Bryan Schwartzman, Staff Writer for Jewish Exponent reports:

As the Obama administration awaited an official response from Iran as to whether it would abide by a draft plan concerning uranium enrichment, two Pennsylvania lawmakers highlighted efforts on Capitol Hill and in Harrisburg to enact deeper sanctions against the Iranian regime.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and State Rep. Josh Shapiro (D-District 153) touted those efforts during an Oct. 26 news conference held at the Jewish Community Services Building in Philadelphia. Casey and U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) introduced the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act, which would authorize state and local governments — and their pension funds — to divest from companies doing business with Iran’s energy sector.

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Since 2007, Shapiro has advocated that Pennsylvania divest its pension funds from investing in foreign-owned companies that do business with Iran.

His Terror Free Investment act passed the House in 2008, but died in the Senate as the economy went into a tailspin. He’s now working on getting more support in the Senate this time around.

A number of Casey supporters and influential Jewish Democrats attended the session. While no Republican lawmakers were there, both Casey and Shapiro stressed that their bills have bipartisan support.

Full article here.